White House Details 'Cyber Sprint' Progress, Says Congress Needs to Lift Sequester for Security Improvements

On July 31, the White House released the overdue progress report on agency cybersecurity improvements following the Office of Personnel Management hacks. The "30-Day Cybersecurity Sprint" commenced June 12, and a public assessment was initially expected July 20. Along with the progress report, the Obama Administration urged that lawmakers relieve across-the-board spending cuts, so agencies can further bolster network defenses.

"It is critical Congress lift the harmful spending cuts known as sequestration and provide agencies certainty in their budgets, to improve their planning, and their ability to forecast and acquire the necessary resources for addressing emerging cyberthreats," US Chief Information Officer Tony Scott said. He blamed the “unsustainable state” of the federal government’s networks on "decades of underfunding and years of uncertainty in budgets" for IT operations. President Barack Obama's fiscal 2016 budget request would increase cyber spending by 11 percent, bringing the total information security investment to $14 billion. The cyber sprint’s instructions to agencies included immediately plugging years-old security holes, surveilling networks for newly identified threats and reducing the number of "privileged" users with wide access to data.